1988-P Struck On Copper Planchet

Is it smaller in diameter than a normal Cent? It looks like a zinc one from the rim. But looks like it was spooned on the edges. (Tapped with the inside of a spoon) 1968 Cents had the letters that close to the rim, but none since then that I know of.

If it were just damaged, why would it weigh 3.11g instead of 2.5g? To my knowledge, spooning or being caught in a clothes dryer wouldn't add weight to it.

Heres what I think. First the coin was not spooned, it was in a clothes dryer.

Next and to be real, the coin was probably not weighed. Anyone can open a RedBook and see that a copper cent weighs 3.11 gms.

Next, a coin that has metal removed and this one does show that, would not weigh exactly what a full weight copper cent would weigh.

End result, I think we are being tested. The coin is damaged. Thats all.

You have to look at everything involved and decide what fits and doesn't fit. AND...nobody in their right mind spoons cents or nickels or clad quarters. I have half a dozen coins right out of a commercial clothes dryer that look like this. It is no mystery to those of us who have seen them.

There's no confusion. It is relatively easy to rule certain things out when you look at an unusual coin. You go a step at a time to see what could or could not be a good possibility.

Then you use the process of elimination. 99.9% of the time it works but there is always a slight amount of room for a coin to be some weird thing that hasn't been seen before.

I cant go into the details here because they are going to show up in some of my upcoming columns but I have two different types of new error types sitting here that I am waiting for explanations from the Mint on.

The point is that there are some things that defy explanation and further research is needed. In most cases though, the oddities that turn up here and on other forums are things that we've seen before and have first hand experience with.

:-)
Have a GREAT day!

Bill
PS: Happy Thanksgiving!